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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Thanks wansard, I've downloaded Armbian for my Banana Pi M2 Berry, onto my Linux PC, wrote the SD card,
plugged in the network cable and power to the Berry and I'm up, up and away with an SSH login.

No need for a system console either GUI or the serial port.

What I'm saying is:

If the *BSD world wants to get their product out there being used, MAKE IT EASY TO INSTALL.

That's all.

And that's what I was looking for.
*BSD was nearly there, for my board, install this boot stuff with "dd", I can do that but
please setup an SSH login with a default username and password to do the system configuration.

If the *BSD world wants to get their product out there being used, MAKE IT EASY TO INSTALL.

The BSD projects are quite distinct with separate goals.

1) OpenBSD actually is exceptionally easy to install. It beats most GNU/Linux distros in that regard.

2) Growth in market share is not the goal of OpenBSD. They seem to present themselves now as a research project to actively develop a good system. The OS is thus for the people actively working on it, the rest of us can come along for the ride if we are not in the way.

Compare that to TrueOS, which presents themselves as a fork of FreeBSD, but one with a lot of polish and pre-configured options to make life easier on the desktop.

So if you are complaining about ease of installation, check OpenBSD if you plan to contribute actively to the development, or check TrueOS if you just want a replacement for Linux Mint on the desktop.

Can somebody point me on how to install (any) *BSD onto the Banana Pi M2 Berry (clearly mentioned on OpenBSD as supported)

I have no reason to build a *BSD box on a PC first. - And I mean that.

Hello Alan

If you are still considering a BSD for your board, you might want to try NetBSD: the evbarm portfully supports both the Raspberry Pi and the Banana Pi. I'm using it on the former, and a serial console was not needed for it (although it does work nicely): I just had to dd the installer image to the SD card, plug in a keyboard and a monitor, power on. Then I was in control for partitioning and installation. The secure shell was not configured by default, though, I guess for security reasons.

Edit: the Banana Pi, however, needs some additional steps before it can booted.

I don't think the goal of any BSD* is to "get their product out there". All of the big BSD's (Free, Open and Net) are open source projects and the entities putting them out do not profit from their use.

Easy is a relative term: I find FreeBSD drop dead simple to install but I have been using it for a long time. I found OpenBSD rather difficult, and I have not tried NetBSD so cannot comment.

FreeBSD acquires quite a lot of monetary and human resources from FreeBSD-dependent companies like Apple. Sure, they wouldn't care much if FreeBSD disappears, but they are happy that someone else does most of the work for them.

Silly me. I assumed that the process for the Banana Pi would be very similar to the Raspberry, but it's clearly not. U-Boot has to be built for the board first (I couldn't find any binary either) and then a serial connection seems to be needed as well. I agree with you that the NetBSD Wiki is not always as clear as it should be. Sorry for the poor advice.

The Pine64 can be used with OpenBSD/arm64. But, just like with the armv7 architecture, serial console connection is required for the initial installation on these systems.

Note: a serial console does not require another OpenBSD system, or any BSD system at all. It merely requires a terminal, or a computer running a terminal emulator application, and the appropriate cabling.

I wish I could, Alan, but unfortunately I don't own a Banana Pi board, just a couple of Raspberries, earlier models. However, what you say about the Banana Pi sounds interesting so I might get a used one, hopefully soon, to figure out how the actual boot and install process looks like.